


a dance with death (and a narrow escape)

by MollyRenata



Series: the sun, the moon, the fool and the lovers [7]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Amateur Medical Treatment, Blood, Gen, Mentions of PTSD, Violence, Vomiting, extreme creative liberties taken, robot death, the focus is definitely not on shipping, the polyship is mentioned but it isn't important here, well not really that important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27155005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MollyRenata/pseuds/MollyRenata
Summary: Sho fights one of his regular enemies, and gets a little more than he bargained for.Takes place after "break out of your head".
Relationships: Minazuki Sho/Narukami Yu/Kujikawa Rise
Series: the sun, the moon, the fool and the lovers [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937416
Kudos: 5





	a dance with death (and a narrow escape)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, Sho has a new scar. How'd he get it? Here's how!

* * *

During his travels, Sho had encountered many of the machines known as "Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons". He hadn't quite figured out where his enemies got them from, whether they were leftovers from the original experiments or entirely new units built for the purpose of fighting against him; the ones that he fought were little more than automatons who followed their masters' orders without question, nothing like the feisty little bot that he had thrown into the TV before.

Sure, their faces and bodies looked like hers, but the way they acted wasn't human in the slightest. Sho had no problem destroying them - he'd done the same in his youth, as his father's cruel training often pitted him against them. If anything, these were _mercy kills,_ dismantling the poor things before they developed awareness of their pitiful fate.

One of the bots had attempted to ambush Sho in his own camp, though he heard it approaching; his senses were honed from his combat training, and he caught the sound of a snapping twig in the near distance before the bot charged out of its hiding place, blades drawn - two of them, just like him.

Sho drew his own swords and blocked the initial assault with ease, forcing the machine to step back. He glared at it, assuming his usual battle stance; he had been taught to gauge his opponent's weak points before going on the offensive, and that didn't take long at all in the case of these things. The joints of their limbs weren't as heavily armored out of necessity - they wouldn't be able to move otherwise - and, of course, the flesh-like coating on their upper bodies concealed a hatch that allowed easy access to their artificial "hearts".

It was best to aim for the limbs first. Sho set his sights on one of the robot's arms, then dashed forward, swinging one sword at the exposed joint. The robot ducked to the side, and attempted to retaliate - but he was one step ahead, bringing his other sword out to deflect the assault, and he used the leverage from that to strike again, his sword narrowly missing the robot's arm.

"...Piece of junk," Sho muttered under his breath, and he took a few quick steps back. "Playin' _hard-to-get,_ aren't we?"

The hostile machine did not respond - they never did, as they only answered the words of their masters. It was _pathetic,_ really; even though Labrys and Aigis ultimately still answered to their commanders, they possessed the free will to make that choice, and the capacity to deduce whether or not they should listen to commands they were given.

This thing had one purpose, and that was to wound Sho enough that it could bring him back to wherever its master hid. If all went well, he could keep the tracking device that indicated its location intact, and follow the path it took to find said master's hideout - there were times when he destroyed the device by accident, and then he had to find out where it had come from on his own, which took a _lot_ more time and effort.

Another swing, another block. Whoever had sent this particular bot hadn't been thinking straight, it seemed; the only units Sho had trouble with were the ones with ranged attacks like Aigis, though he hadn't encountered very many of those. He couldn't be sure of what _else_ was hidden beneath the robot's metallic exterior, but-

"Tsukiyomi!"

-he _wasn't_ going to get caught off-guard by a missile flying off to the side, its trajectory aimed at his back. The shadowy Persona sliced through the projectile with ease, detonating it from a safe distance, and Sho thrust both swords forward once he was sure he wouldn't get hit by the shrapnel.

Maybe this was one of those _in-between_ models. Generation 6? It didn't matter, as now he had to keep an eye out for any _more_ missiles - doubtful that the thing only had one. It was a good thing his Plume of Dusk allowed him to bypass all the mental checks a Persona user would normally have to go through in order to use their power in "reality", meaning that any fight against him was closer to two-on-one.

Another clash of blades - this bot was _fast,_ Sho had to admit. If push came to shove, he was able to surpass his human limitations and match its speed, but if the fight dragged on too long, doing that would be counterproductive; as it turned out, having the ability to surpass limits didn't mean his body was made for it, and there had been a handful of times where he'd ended up hospitalized from self-inflicted injuries.

He _wasn't_ going to go to a hospital _this_ time. He just had to get _one_ clean hit in - to disable one of the robot's limbs, and then taking it down would be a simple task. He swung his swords again, and one of them nicked the side of the robot's arm-

Apparently, this thing had a bit more equipment than just its main weapons and those missiles. Sho didn't realize that it had blades built into its _legs_ as well - all of a sudden, there was a pretty nasty gash in his own leg, and the machine's boosters activated as it dashed back, leaving a line in the dirt with the sword in its lower limb.

An eye for an eye - or rather, a hit for a hit. If this one was going to play dirty, Sho could do that too; he focused, ignoring the pain in his leg, and pushed a fragment of his psyche into place. He'd come across this one during a certain encounter in Inaba, the fruit of the deep bond he shared with the Investigation Team's leader.

"Ziodyne!"

Izanagi's form appeared behind Sho, and unleashed a torrent of lightning upon his opponent; he had been subject to that same attack several times before, and it was _satisfying_ to see it turned upon one of these scrap heaps. A certain other borrowed Persona had told him once that they were almost always weak to electricity, so that was as good an excuse as any to use the power that Yu had given him.

Sure enough, the robot flinched at the attack, and Sho took advantage of the opportunity to strike at its heart. As his blade sank into the machine's chest, it fell at last, its artificial life force seeping out of it in the wake of its core's destruction. Its tracking device was probably ruined, but Sho didn't have the mental capacity to care much about that at the moment.

Now that he was no longer in danger, the pain from his wound hit him full-force, strong enough to make his stomach turn. He limped back to his makeshift campsite, which thankfully wasn't that far away - he _had_ to get this wound patched up before he lost too much blood, as that would ensure he had to go to a _hospital,_ and the very thought of that made him even queasier.

_'...You should call for emergency transport.'_

Sho ignored Minazuki's voice as he searched through his tent for the medical supplies he always carried with him. This wouldn't be the first time he had to stitch up his own wounds, and he was sure that it wouldn't be the last; maybe if he ever decided to quit hunting Kirijos, he'd make a good surgeon, what with the suturing skills he'd developed treating himself - as well as his natural aptitude for _cutting._

After finding the kit, he seated himself on the floor of the tent, and disinfected the wound - that always stung like a bitch, and with how much pain he was already in, his stomach jolted at the sensation. He swallowed and bit his lip, applying pressure in an effort to stem the flow of blood; once it slowed down a little, he could get to work, though the odds were that he'd have to clean it up again first.

_'Your life is in danger. Call for emergency transport.'_

Minazuki hounded Sho again, and Sho ignored his other half's advice again. He was determined _not_ to go to a hospital this time - if treated promptly, this wound would heal in a couple of days, thanks to his inner power. Minazuki distracting him wasn't conducive to treating it promptly, and he wanted to tell the asshole to _shut up,_ but keeping the contents of his stomach inside of him took a much higher priority than talking right now.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to slow down the bleeding, and Sho wiped down the blood he'd lost in the meantime; after applying another round of disinfectant, he got to stitching, careful to make each knot tight enough to keep the wound closed. It was _agonizing,_ and Sho's single-minded determination was the only thing that kept him going through the whole process... well, that and the fact that he would have to go to a hospital if he screwed this up.

 _Anything_ was better than going to a hospital. Getting professional medical help was an _absolute_ last resort, and- wait, _no,_ with how much he hated hospitals, he could _never_ be a surgeon. He'd have to spend _all day_ in those damn places, and that would drive him to insanity in short order.

Finally, after what felt like ages, Sho finished stitching up his wound, and he wiped it down one last time before stumbling out of his tent. He managed to make it some distance away from the campsite before emptying the contents of his stomach onto the ground - and the taste just made him retch again, that awful feeling bringing him to his knees.

_'You should have called for a transport, you fool. There was no need to suture the wound yourself after you slowed the flow of blood.'_

Sho spat out some of the lingering acid, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "...Wouldn't have stopped me from puking."

 _'Admittedly.'_ Minazuki sounded rather displeased - he had every right to be, really, but Sho wasn't going to admit that to him. _'Though perhaps I could have spared you the sensation if only you had allowed me to take over.'_

"Shut it," Sho muttered, as he started off toward camp once again. He'd have to bandage the wound now, and he didn't have any intention of using a piece of torn-off clothing for that - plus, it'd be hard to get the right size, what with the fact that he'd left his swords with the robot's corpse like an idiot.

... _Corpse,_ huh. That was an odd descriptor for a pile of scrap metal - even if it _had_ technically been alive at one point.

Well, none of that mattered now. Attacks by Anti-Shadow units only came every now and then, and Sho had no reason to believe he'd have to fight again tonight; he could just go back and pick up his swords once he finished dressing his wound, and then he could see if the tracking device was salvageable. The odds were that it wasn't, but there was no harm in checking.

If this happened again, Sho decided that he'd listen to his other half next time - but _only_ if the bastard took over and _spared him the experience._ If it could be avoided, he did _not_ want to wake up in a hospital room again... as doing so always brought back memories of the time when he'd thought himself alone in the world.

Even though Ikutsuki was part of Sho's past now, his image had never left the scarred wanderer's mind - no matter how hard he tried to rid himself of it.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I took a lot of creative liberties with Persona summoning here. I probably could've written that bit differently, but hey, what's wrong with being creative?


End file.
